Work with podcasts in iTunes

Work with podcasts in iTunes
Mac Tip #255/09-August-2006

Once you have some Podcasts in iTunes (see last week’s Tip) there are some interesting things you can do with them.

Apply various settings to the podcast itself. You may not necessarily want to download every segment of a podcast you’re subscribed to, so select the podcast in iTunes and click the Settings… button at bottom right of the window.

With the Settings open you can choose how often to check for new episodes, whether or not to automatically download new episodes, whether or not to keep episodes you’ve played and how to handle transferring podcasts to your iPod.

If you would like to find a little more information about any particular episode of a podcast head for the small button with an i icon at the right-hand end of the description column.

Click the button and you’ll see whatever information the provider of the podcast has supplied. Some providers include detailed information about the episode, such as a summary, running time, names and perhaps URLs for any guests. Others may provide little information, if any.

Note that you can select and copy text from within the body of the Information window. If you were intending to keep and archive an episode you may wish to paste that information into the Comments area for the episode.

To see and edit the information for any track in iTunes, select it and choose File > Get Info. Then click on the various tabs across the top of the Get Info window. Some fields, such as those in the Info tab are able to be edited.